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Technical Fitting Air Conditioning?

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Technical Fitting Air Conditioning?

SB1500

SB1500

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Hello, I'm wondering if Air Conditioning, or even the Climate Control, which was available in higher spec Panda's is possible to be fitted to a Dynamic model which only has air circulation.

Or is this too complex and involved with the engine cooling etc?

If possible I'd be looking around scrap yards for the parts as I doubt they're available any other way.

Thanks
 
I'm thinking it might not be that easy. It may not be compatible with the onboard computer. I just remember when I was ordering mine that one of the options I wanted (electric wing mirrors) was not compatible without aircon as there was a different ecu for it according to the dealership. I didn't want aircon so I couldn't get them.
 
I'd imagine this is very much a case of, if you want a car with it, buy a car with it. There are some things which just don't make economic sense to retrofit. I have no doubt that it's possible with enough work, but the time, effort and money spent would likely be better used buying a car which has A/C in the first place.
 
Having converted cars to have aircon I can assure you its a total bitch to do.

Dash out to fit the new heater box you'll need, new wiring etc.
Engine bay to fit compressor pipes condenser accumulator, more wiring new belts (assuming your engine has a mount to take the compressor

Then as its a modern car you may have to proxi align the Ecus at best or as suggested swap out the electronics from the donor vehicle.

Then assuming that's all gone according to plan the whole system will need to be leak tested (which usually doesn't go well with scrap yard parts) gassed and tested.

Assuming that's all gone ok you then have to try and explain to your insurance company what you've done

Completely not worth the hassle, lots to learn lots to do, lots of money to spend.

Just buy a car with aircon
 
It may be possible to buy a small 12v electric aircon unit that you can plug into the cigarette lighter.
 
MountainRunner said:
It may be possible to buy a small 12v electric aircon unit that you can plug into the cigarette lighter.
Click to expand...



I'd be really surprised to see a small 12v aircon, at least one that could cool anything.

There's a lot of power involved in cooling, i think you'd need more electrical current than the rest of your car uses put together to get anything. Plus where would the heat exchanger sit? if its inside the car you'd simultaneously heat and cool the car and the net effect would be to warm.
 
You only have to look at the size of the refrigeration units they fit to small refrigerated vans to see just how big a unit you need,

My brother fits waeco compressor fridges that run off 12v from a cig lighter, they are very good but will only cool an area about a cubic foot

And will put out a lot of heat from the coils on the back, so any sort of plug in solution wouldn't work for aircon
 
Has anyone ever asked a fiat dealer what they'd charge?

Now stop laughing, I had air con retro fitted to a toyota yaris at the main toyota dealer for £600.

I thought that was reasonable as it would have cost me twice that to change the vehicle.

I used my car for working as a meter reader so stop/start all day into a red hot car wasn't much fun, aircon made it bearable.

Now I wouldn't buy a modern car without it. :)
 
panda panda said:
Has anyone ever asked a fiat dealer what they'd charge?

Now stop laughing, I had air con retro fitted to a toyota yaris at the main toyota dealer for £600.
Click to expand...

Fiat dealer won't do it, its a factory fit option only (like fog lamps etc) as its canbus controlled. Unlike the mk1 Yaris which was pre canbus. Had a look at fitting it to our Yaris aftermarket also as a few kits came up and were kicking about on eBay.

Did you loose Power Steering though, or did your Yaris have it origionally? As the AC compressor looked like it went in the place the PS pump sat :confused:
 
A good friend of mine had a yaris new back in 2000, I seem to vaguely remember that Toyota built them fairly modular and you could have most things added on as a dealer option I think he had all new stereo fitted and fog lights installed all for a very reasonable price considering the radio was built into the dash and dealers prices on CD players back then was astronomical.

If you go to the mini accessories website you'll be surprised what they can add on for you such as climate control cruise control etc, if you wanna pay the price.

But fiat don't do this, their cars aren't built to be modified after
 
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